...mostly a sounding board. "I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood."Audre Lorde.

27 May 2008

Perfectly stranded electrons, protons and neutrons. The sculptor saw what he created and he felt exalted. And it shows ..Was this color co-ordination ? Or did the chinese red sculpture of the artist take the stage because nature enveloped it in its surroundings ? Can you tell ?

Artists become famous through their sculpture. Or did the sulptures become famous through the artists ? But is it art? or And it is art.

The works of man and nature co-exist here at the Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, NY. Surrounded by the hudson Valley, ravines, and ridges, waterfalls, lakes, streams, this sprawling outdoor museum transports you to different realms. It leaves you confused!? It helps you to overlook. And relaxed ? Mixed emotions take center stage. Or You feel nothing at all. Ignorance is bliss.And who made the trees, the land, the sky ?

25 May 2008

19 May 2008

Readers, Friends, Bloggers : My initial objective was to write about the city that I live in. But in the course of writing, I changed paths and wrote about topics that played in my head. So while I will still continue to write some posts about "In My neighbourhood" the title and link has been changed to"the twenty second line".

07 May 2008

They hold the secrets to our apartment lives ! They mann the apartment desk. They know everyone and everything that come into the apartment building. They take our packages in and look at the clock when we come in and go out. They know the shops we frequent and how much we shop. They know our boy friends and girlfriends, our children's likes and dislikes. Our doctors visits and emergencies. They know when we are in a hurry and call the cab for us. They hold the doors and help us get our groceries in a cart. They let us borrow their umbrella when it rains. They also know who sends us flowers and who leaves notes and gifts for us at the desk. They invade our lives unconsciously. They look into our eyes as if they know nothing,but they do. And they also know when we are upset or sad or happy.

They know what take outs we order and checks the laundry that comes in and go out. They know if we are moving, and what furniture we have ordered. They know if we are looking to buy a house and they also know whom to keep out of our doors. They become our therapist and our confidante unconsciously. They know our mistress and their children. They hold the keys of our house without coming in. They have an opinion of us - hate, dislike or mistrust but never share it with us or with any of the other tenants. Like they know us,they know all the other tenants - they even know when husbands and wives fight and never come home. They know if it is bad, or too bad. They hold the door for us.

They talk and observe - they make fine story tellers - interesting ones because they see us, watch us and hear us when we think that they don't. They see us through security cams. They are indeed private investigators if one wants them to be. Always dressed in their black coats and tie, they greet us when we come in or go out - even when it is 10 times a day. They know everything - who sleeps with whom ? Yes, of course. Handsome doorman and doorwomen have extra keys. We pay them to watch everything and a line cannot be drawn where not to stop. They are the men who are PAID to open and close doors and so much more in between.

04 May 2008

said a man in a diner which was near corpus christi. It was a wintry dark night and the only glow was the headlights of the car and the lights in the diner, not a typical one with neon lights and 60's vintage tables. But rustic, with wooden tables and chairs and some wooden stools and a wooden bar. Sensing that we were not from Texas, he enquired where we were coming from ?

He then continued to say that this is mexico, but we have US rules and regulations. Perplexed we double checked with him and confirmed that we had not left the US border. He continued to explain that the land of Texas belonged to Mexico a few hundred years ago and how US had seized it. In a few years from now there will be more people with mexican heritage than euro americans.

WE are everywhere he said. The US cannot ask us to get lost, legal or illegal we are bound to remain here. If they have taken our land from us, we have come to take it from them. And unknowingly he had made a very profound statement. People of mexican origin are everywhere. They run the economy. They are agricultural workers, contract labourers, construction workers, cleaners, dishwashers in restaurants, in hospitals, helpers in the kitchen, hired help of every kind. And a few can be spotted at Universities too. They are laborers for every small business owner who exploit them with measly wages. One man in church spoke to me in Spanish and expected a response in Spanish to which I replied, " Sorry, I do not understand". To which he responded, " if you have to survive in new york, you have to learn to understand spanish" And that is true.

Spanish is the second language of the US. People of Mexican and Latin American origin flourish in numbers by every passing day. They rock and roll the American economy. Work which the euro Americans deem beneath their dignity is taken over by the Spanish speaking population. Once at a fresh produce market, a supervisor said, tightening across the borders have caused a decline of Mexican agricultural workers and hence the increase in cost of produce - because euro American workers or African American workers are not ready to work below minimum wage and in unsafe working conditions which Mexican workers generally do without uttering a sound.

Mc Donalds, the rulers of the fast food joint run their empire with hundreds of workers working in their meat joints 24/7 butchering, cutting and cleaning meat so that the burger can be sold for pennies. Mexicans keep the american population fed, cleaned, clothed and washed. They are the continuous fuel of the burgeoned american entrepreneurship. US may have picked up their land a few hundred years ago, but today the mexicans are back with a vengeance. Hundreds and thousands of them are ruling this land by being the backbones , which the US Government cannot let go. Just like how US cannot let go of their merchant China who manufacture products at one third of the price, the US cannot let the mexicans go, illegal or otherwise because the mexicans are woven themselves into the economic fabric of america's existence of day to day living. What the americans thought was the biggest land grab, now has turned out to be better in disguise for the mexicans. Definitely, this is the United States of America, and Mexicans rule here".

01 May 2008

The other day I was at the grocers to buy fresh produce and found that the food prices have again climbed the charts. These are hard times , one has to cut costs but how much can one resist eating when hungry. May be this is the hard way for a glutnous and greedy stomach to learn a lesson in a country facing obesity.

Lesson No 1. Do not eat when NOT hungry.No 2. Drink a cup of warmer to hot water before you have your food and one eats less.No 3. Buy one diary product. Milk or cheese and not both. After all excess milk is converted into cheese.No 4. Drink water to test your hunger. If it is emotional hunger water would suffice.No 5. Snack on nuts in between meals. Peanuts are poor man's almonds packed with nutrition. Eat it anyway.No 6. When you crave for sugar, reach out for fruits. It fills your stomach and calms the taste buds.No 7. A 1"x1" piece of the darkest chocolate is an answer to your chocolate bouts. The bitter sweet cacoa does more good than a bar of milk chocolate.No 8. For the price of 100% whole wheat bread, one can either buy 2-3 lbs of barley or quinoa or whole oats or amarnath grain or bulgur wheat . Less is more.No 9. Lentils substitute for meat.

No 10. Flax seeds and canned sardines, mackerel substitute for Omega 3 fatty acids.N0 11. And fresh fruits substitute for desserts.No 12. Be grateful that you have food on your table.No 13. Share what you have. Your bounty only grows.

Food channels have showed no mercy despite the rising costs. They call for exotic foods and unseasonal ones. Food magazines have continued on their favorite rants.. food porn. food writers and stylists continue to list new products from far away lands enticing the food palate. It is just like in the days of the yore. When kings ruled, they ate the finest of foods which the servants had slaved for days to make, which they relished on the best of china. Their cup overfloweth..Their luxury, and food made of the best of ingredients was not tampered by drought, flood, cold or any weather extremities . They continued to live in oblivion while their subjects tried to make ends meet and rub hunger. Times have not changed. The RICH continue to indulge while the masses have to find other measures. After all when the stock charts continue to climb its their treasury that gets filled to the brim.